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Can you describe what happened? What were the conditions and symptoms?
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Dad's '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4 w/a 351M sporting an RV cam and Performer carb & intake/ZF5/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches in the rear LS, and sitting on 30 x 9.5 Starfire's wrapped around aluminum bullet holes
Can you describe what happened? What were the conditions and symptoms?
well i bought it on the 9th and drove home fine & later i went n bought burgers and $25 of 87 octane fuel. on the 10th was cold and rainy but started fine, drove 1/2 a mile and it died at a traffic light. i see it pumping gas in carb, i replaced the plugs, wires, points, condenser, and coil. it already had a new cap and roater. but i just haven't been able to get it to start but it cranks hard and when it was running it had tones power and torc.
Have you checked for spark? The shot of the engine brought back memories for me of my '72 w/a 390 that died at a rest stop in AZ in '72. The coil just decided it was done.
So, plug a plug wire and hold it near the engine, probably with gloves, and have someone crank it. Or, put an old plug in the wire and put the plug against the block. You should have a white or blue spark. Obviously no spark is bad, and yellow or red is a problem but the engine should start anyway.
I think it must be ignition if it was running and died. So either you lost power to the ignition itself or something like coil, points, or wiring died. If you've replaced points since it died that might be a place to look if you don't have spark. Check to see that you have power to the coil, both when cranking (12v) and when in Run (~6v) And the points should take the other side of the coil to ground when they close.
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Dad's '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4 w/a 351M sporting an RV cam and Performer carb & intake/ZF5/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches in the rear LS, and sitting on 30 x 9.5 Starfire's wrapped around aluminum bullet holes
i haven't checked spark since i got new coil. i have a mechanic coming tomorrow to help me with it. said would cost $25-$30 to diagnose my problem. so i am hoping my $125 can fix the problem.
Just out of curiosity, did you get the new points set right?
Maybe someone here in the group who lives in BA, can check out your truck instead of a stranger on craigslist.
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Mike B
1969 ForDor Thunderbird
2006 Dodge Charger (wifes car)
2000 Ranger Regular cab
2.5L with A/C backed up by the 5 speed manual, 2WD.
159,000+ on the clock.
Mike - That's one of my worries, that enough parts have been changed that there may be multiple problems, the one that caused the problem and those introduced later.
Alice - If it didn't start after installing the new coil it might still have been the coil as there now might be another problem. Hopefully your mechanic will be able to quickly diagnose the problem and you can then fix it.
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Dad's '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4 w/a 351M sporting an RV cam and Performer carb & intake/ZF5/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches in the rear LS, and sitting on 30 x 9.5 Starfire's wrapped around aluminum bullet holes
I remember many, many years ago a friend of mine Mustang quit running after a rain. Turned out that water had gotten into the distributor. We took the cap off, dried it out and it ran fine afterwards. Not sure how the water got in it though.
I'm thinking that Alice's problem is very similar, since everything was changed and something isn't set/adjusted right. It sounds like her truck was running fine until the rain came.
Alice, once you get it running again you may want to upgrade the point/condenser to a pertronix system. I did that with my Thunderbird, and never looked back.
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Mike B
1969 ForDor Thunderbird
2006 Dodge Charger (wifes car)
2000 Ranger Regular cab
2.5L with A/C backed up by the 5 speed manual, 2WD.
159,000+ on the clock.
Yeah I don't know if I get the points it raining or not. But um yeah I've put so many parts into this said I'm kind of out of ideas. I really don't know if I miss gap points or if it's a bad coil or said something else going on. So I hope the mechanic can figure this out for me.
He's only charging me 25 to 30 dollars to undo the diagnostic. So that's not a bad price for diagnostic in yet. So I hope 125 total will be able to fix it. Because that's all I have left.
So, he's going to pull the timing cover and replace the chain and sprockets? Hope so.
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Dad's '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4 w/a 351M sporting an RV cam and Performer carb & intake/ZF5/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches in the rear LS, and sitting on 30 x 9.5 Starfire's wrapped around aluminum bullet holes
Good. That would give you basically the same symptoms - fuel and fire but no run, although sometimes they'll backfire a bit. Anyway, good luck. let us know how it goes.
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Dad's '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4 w/a 351M sporting an RV cam and Performer carb & intake/ZF5/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches in the rear LS, and sitting on 30 x 9.5 Starfire's wrapped around aluminum bullet holes
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